Wednesday, September 9, 2015

A legend has it that the Sage Gautama lived in the Brahmagiri Hills at Trayambakeshwar with his wife Ahalya. The couple lived the rest of their lives in the then village "Govuru" which is now called "Kovvur"[Cow = ఆవు/గోవు] after the British rule. Ahalya lived in a nearby place "Thagami" which in due course of time changed to the name "Thogummi" .The Rishi as a reason for Annadanam(The nature of giving away food), started cultivating rice crops and other crops. Once, a holy cow(maaya-dhenu) created by Lord Ganesh on the wish of munis, which resembled a normal cow entered his abode and started spoiling the rice while he was meditating. Knowing that a cow shall not be treated harshly, he put the dharbha grass on the cow and to his surprise it fell dead. The munis and muni-patnis said “we thought that Gautama maharshi is an Uttama, but he did Go-hatya!”. The Rishi wished to atone for the sin of ‘Gohathya’ - killing a sacred cow. He went to Nashik and did Tapas to Lord Tryambakeshwar(Lord Shiva) on the advice of the other rishis. The rishi requests the lord to release him from the sin by making the River Ganges flow over the cow. Lord Shiva was pleased with the Rishi and diverted the river Ganges to flow over the cow where it died which is in "Govuru". The River Godavari is thus born in Nashikand flowing past the village Kovvur and merge with the Bay of Bengal at last.http://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/search/label/Godavari

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

[This is a rare stotra which I got from a hand out published in 1971 by the Sri Adhi Sankara Bhagawad Pada Veda Sabha, Triplicane, Madras which was printed in Tamil. Unfortunately in spite of my best search, I could not get it in Sanskrit alphabets. Tamil being phonetically inadequate, there may be many mistakes in the transliteration. I would be grateful to any one who can send the text in Deva Nagari or Malayalam script. I shall then re-do the transliteration and correct the translation.]

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who was born as the result of austerities of Shiva and Parvathi,Who is being worshipped by devas,Who wears the moon's crescent on his head,Who has the head of an elephant,And is worshipped by Lord Subrahmanya.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who has a crown well lit by the crescent,Who is the sun to the eyes of her who was born in Himalayas,Who was worshipped by the consort of Lakshmi,And who is seated on a lotus flower.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who blesses every one with all that is good,Who grants every one all that they desire,Who sits in the triangle in Mooladhara* lotus,Who is worshipped by great Gurus,And who gives happiness to son in law of the great mountain.*Lord Ganesa occupies one triangle of the Mooladhara Chakra

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who rose from the dirt on the body of the daughter of the mountain,Who is like a wind towards the cloud like dirt in the mind of good people,And considers enemies and friends as equal and worships them without dirt.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who has five faces and son of he who killed Manmatha who has five arrows,Who rides on a lion, who has the face of the king of elephants,And who destroys five types of sins of his devotees.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who is the aim of the chant with six letters,Who steals the six types of bad habits from us,Who lives in the six mooladhara wheels with happiness,Who destroys the six Urmis like, It is and it is createdAnd who has two heads which is surrounded by bees.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Whose body is made of eight aspects like,Pancha bhoothas,* sun, moon and the Lord,Whose feet was worshipped by ancient sages like Sanaka,And who is the form of holy deeds done in previous births.* The five elements earth, sky, air, water and fire

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who looks like the full moon of the autumn,Who fulfills the wishes of his devotees,Who is the luck of the hoard of his devotees,Who has four hands and likes fruits and Payasa.** A sweet dish made out of rice and jaggery.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who is a realized soul, armed with flower bouquet,Sugarcane, axe and a ripe fruit of mango,Who is blessed by goddess of wealth,And has a body which is of reddish brown.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who is armed with rope, goad, branch of wish giving climber,And his own tusk in his four hands.Who holds a pot of gems in his trunk,Who is a god with the red colour of hibiscus.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who holds rope and goad and shows,Signs of blessing and fulfilling of wishes in his four hands,Who wears red cloths and applies red sandalwood paste,And who is called one lettered one* and wears the crescent.* He is considered to have the form of letter Om

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who has the shine simlar to the rising sun,Who wears the crown of Yoga,Who wears blue cloths and drowned within himself,And sitting in a yogic pose has closed eyes.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who holds rope goad, tusk and Modhaka* in his four hands,Who removes the pain created by the kali age,And who is the God having body similar to turmeric.*A savory ball made of rice and jaggery

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who has tusk, mango rope and goad in his four hands,Who is of the colour of blood and rides on a mouse,And who is the creator and is being worshipped by the world.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who can be got only by very great sages,On whose both sides Sidhi and budhi *And whose feet are worshipped by Sidheswaras.* Sidhi (occult powers) and Budhi (wisdom) are considered as wives of Lord Ganesa by some people.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who exhibited his strength in the war with Bandasura*,Who grants limitless occult powers to his devotees,And whose head shines with the moon's crescent that he wears.* Goddess lalitha waged a war against this asura and killed him.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who being a lover of his devotees,Grants joy, poetic skill, salvation,And good speaking ability to his devotees,Who loves the chanting of Ganapathi Suktha*,And who grants unalloyed wisdom.*Also called Brahmanaspathi

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who is extremely pleased by tharpana,Or Homa done on Chathurthi as well as Fridays,Who likes being worshipped by Durva grass,And who is far away from the mind of people with bad minds.

Let my morning be made great by Ganesa,Who is home of all the good qualities,Who plays in the lotus like heart of Adhi Sesha,And whose lotus like feet are worshipped by sages like Sanantha.https://www.youtube.com/results?q=Ganesh+SuprabhatamKalpaga Vinayaka SuprabathamTranslated by P. R. Ramachander

[There is a very famous Ganesha temple in a place called Pillayarpatti in Tamil Nadu, where the deity is called Kalpaga Vinayagar.]

In the middle of the very decorated house shining with jewels, On the golden cot studded with pearls and gems, You are sleeping being attended to by celestial maidens, And Oh wish fulfilling Ganesha, please wake up, a good morning to you.

With the great instruments like Veena, Mrudanga and other instruments playing, The Naga maidens are singing your holy songs, And hearing that sweet music, please wake up with joy, Oh wish fulfilling Ganesha, a very good morning to you.

Seeing your form which is equal to Vedas and Upanishads, Shiva and other godly gladly saluted with their head, And are praising you with devotion using very pleasing words, Oh wish fulfilling Ganesha, a very good morning to you.

The seven great saints, Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Sanaka and other sages as well as Indra and other devas, Are desiring to see you along with several other devotees, Oh wish fulfilling Ganesha, a very good morning to you.

The sacred waters from rivers and rivers have come, And are stored by Brahmins in gem studded pots, And devas are desiring to give the sacred bath to the lord of devas, Oh wish fulfilling Ganesha, a very good morning to you.

The reverential sun of the many lotus flowers The God who sits on the gem studded seat at the bottom of Mandhara tree,* The God with is big paunch, decorated by people, A very good morning to you who is the lord of the town of joy, * Calatropis Gigantean

Oh God who is fanned by Lord Brahma of Vaikunta, Oh elephant god tamed only by the formula of penance, Who wears a big paunch and lotus like feet, A very good morning to you who sits like a king on a throne.